Lions and Tigers
by Kurohane Ookami
Summary: Leo's not like most twenty year olds. She still lives at home, is hopelessly addicted to Disney, and works at the local mechanics. But when her neighbor Sam gives her a ride to work one day, she has no idea what she's getting into...M for violence and language. Slight AU.
1. Once Upon a Time

The morning air was crisp, the rain beating down on the houses and street...

_"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!"_

And she was falling down the stairs again.

She groaned as she finally regained her bearings. Somewhat. Did being upside-down and splayed across the bottom of her stairs count as regaining her bearings?

Muttering unpleasant things to herself, she gently pushed herself down the remaining three stairs and onto the carpet, laying there for a moment while regaining her breath. She really, really needed to watch where she was going first thing in the morning.

Lifting her head, she glared at the ever so innocent looking laundry basket that was the cause of her misery.

Of course, she just _had _to forget that she'd left it there last night.

"Are you alright, honey?" her mother asked, leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen in amusement. She'd long ago accepted the fact that her daughter was physically incapable of walking in a straight line without tripping over something.

"Just peachy." she replied, sitting up. "Your lack of concern always leaves a warm and fuzzy feeling behind, mom."

"I accepted the fact that you're a klutz a long time ago, Leo." her mother shrugged, long copper mane moving with the motion. "I seriously doubt it's time to start worrying now."

"Love you too." Leo rolled her eyes, beginning to go back up the stairs that she had just fallen down. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to replay this scenario with a bit more success."

o-o-o-o

"Leo, don't forget that I'm working late again tonight." her mother warned as she scarfed down her cereal.

She hummed something unintelligent and continued before throwing on a scarf and slipping on her runners. "So, I'm cooking tonight?"

"If you want. I'll leave some money for takeout in case you don't." her mom smiled, kissing her daughter's cheek. "Oh! And Leo! Don't forget to take your jacket with you! You'll get soaked otherwise!"

"Righhhtt." she spun on her heel, shifting her grey messenger back to grab the brown rain jacket and throw it on. "Thanks mom."

"No problem, sweetie." her mother smiled, watching her as she stumbled out into the rain. "And remember the curb!"

Leo hopped over said curb as her mother called out the usual instructions, learned over years of experience, before continuing on, her brown jacket pulled up and the hood covering her copper hair. Her dark jeans, rumpled as always from being left around on the floor, dragged the ground under her worn out runners.

Shaking her head, Jocelyn turned and went back into the warmth of the house, knowing instinctively that Leo was no doubt going to trip over something in the next several seconds.

After all, she always did.

o-o-o-o

Leo glanced at the yellow and black camaro that was parked in front of the Witwicky's, and, as usual, wondered how the hell Sam, the couple's son, had managed to come up with the money to buy such a nice vehicle. It couldn't be stolen, as there had been no cops swarming the place after he'd brought it home, so there had to be some other reason behind how the car had arrived.

Actually, it was one of the many mysteries that surrounded the family. After all, just a couple years back, there had been the classic men in black knocking on their door and all that other fun stuff.

After that, things had kind of gotten...weird.

She could have sworn that she'd seen a blue and red custom painted Peterbilt in the alley behind the Witwicky's once, not to mention a bunch of other really odd vehicles every once in a while. For crying out loud, there had been a SAR Hummer H2 over just last week!

Lost in thought, Leo barely even noticed the yellow and black camaro pull up next to her until a voice asked, "Need a lift?"

Surprised, she jumped, letting out an 'eep' of shock, nearly tripping as she jumped.

"Sorry."

_Speak of the devil and he shall appear... _Leo thought to herself as she blew a couple strands of now soaked copper hair out of her eyes before leaning over to look into the sleek interior of the vehicle. Sam looked back at her, a friendly grin on his face.

"Uh, you're Leona, right?" he continued tentatively, rolling down the window further.

"Yeah. We're a couple of doors down." she offered simply, shifting her bag higher on her shoulder. "And God yes, I would love a ride. The weather sucks today."

"Hop in." Sam invited, unlocking the doors and gesturing her in.

"_Okay, let's lose control...do it now cause time is wasting." _the radio played, skipping over a couple of lines in the song that was currently playing. Leo raised a brow, and was about to ask Sam what the heck that was all about. But, he beat her to it.

"The radio's glitching." he apologized. "I keep getting it checked out, but..." he shrugged. "There's not a lot they can do."

"Ah." she replied, reclining back in her seat. "I guess you're headed to school, huh?"

"Aren't you?" he returned quizzically.

Leo snorted out a laugh. "Ah, no. I work a couple blocks from the school at Clay's Parts and Mechanics." she explained. "Although, yeah, I guess I can see where you're coming from."

_"I heard everything you said." _the radio fuzzed again. _"-it's fine by me...If you never leave."_

"Wow." Leo frowned, leaning forward in an attempt to examine the machine. "Your radio is really acting up. You should take it in sometime."

"No, it's good." Sam shrugged. "It's usually fine when it's just me in here."

"That's weird." Leo hummed, watching the rain patter againast the windshield, watched the buildings pass by in a grey blur. There was a comfortable silence between the two for several minutes before Leo pointed at a large nook tucked away in an alley.

"You can stop anywhere along here." she said softly, the low rumble of the engine beneath her soothing and warm. Although now she really didn't want to move from the comfortable seat, which she was also pretty sure had a heat setting, she did have a job to get to.

Opening the door with a small click, Leo threw her hood on over her hair and got out, stumbling over the curb but managing to stay on her feet. Turning with a sheepish grin, she waved cheerily at Sam. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem." Sam replied, his cheeks flushing.

_Awwww, isn't he cute.. _Leo smiled to herself as she opened the door to the small parts dealership and stepping in, trying not to stare longingly as the gorgeous vehicle sped off.

"Hey guys!" she called, unzipping the jacket and hanging it on the hook available. "I hope you aren't screwing up my accounting!"

"Uhhh...no?" Joes's apologetic face appeared from between a couple piles of catalogs. His greying hair was long, pulled back from his face, and his beard was a similar shade that matched his steel grey eyes. "Not this time, anyway."

Leo rolled her eyes, making a quick stop to the walk in bathroom to pull her copper mane, inherited from her mother, into a high tail, holding it in place with a lime green elastic. Re-entering the shop, she made her way through the piles of catalogs and loose parts to the computor, where a sheepish Joe awaited her.

"I already told you, Joe. The air filters are upstairs now." she rolled her eyes, seeing the screen and seeing a couple of air filters listed. "Stop screwing around with my software."

"Sorry Leo." Joe grumbled, closing the list and backing out from behind the counter. "But Clay really needs to let us know when he starts moving shit around on us."

"I know, but at least I keep track of inventory for you." Leo reminded with a cheeky grin. "Otherwise you really would be getting nowhere."

"Uh huh." he said absently, climbing the stairs to the upper level. Which, in reality, was barely high enough for Leo's five foot seven frame. "Which side are they on?"

"Left!" she called, clicking on the inventory icon and typing in her password. "Careful though- they're behind a really big stack of boxes!"

_"SHIT!" _Joe yelped. She heard a crash, followed by several words that she had to stifle a chuckle at.

"Don't say I didn't warn you!" Leo rolled her eyes, typing in a couple of the part names that were lying around on the shelf.

"What about warning?" another voice asked.

"Morning, Clay." Leo chirped. "Joe's pissed that you started moving stuff on him again."

The male in front of her paused, wiping his hands off with a rag, trying to rid himself of the grease that came with years of working with vehicles. His frame was wiry, well formed, though there was a hunch beginning to set in between his shoulders. His greying hair was short, and his eyes were a warm brown. Although one could never be too careful around the man- underneath his friendly exterior was a seasoned trucker who knew a good amount of words that many people hadn't even heard of.

"No' ma problem." he shrugged, his irish accent tinging the words. "Wee lad can do w'out a bit o' direct-on."

Leo smirked, grabbing the parts she had already entered into the database and walking out from behind the counter, pecking the elder man on the cheek as she passed. "Behave, Clay." she scolded mildly, pulling out a drawer in a cabinet to place a couple of large bolts back into their place.

"Aye, cub." Clay replied, acting appropriately ashamed of his behavior.

"And don't call me cub. You know it annoys me." she frowned, though at the moment she was trying not to show her amusement at the sarcastic look on the irishman's face.

"And whose idea was it ta name ya Leona?"

"Don't go there, Clay." Leo warned, brandishing something that vaguely resembled a wrench of some kind. The other male grinned innocently, raising his hands in surrender.

"Ach, if ya say so."

"That's what I thought, old man." she jested, putting the part back on the shelf where it belonged.

"Ah may be old, but ah can still beat ya, lass." Clay wagged a finger before grabbing a couple of bolts, heading back out to the shop, where the usual sounds of drills and other heavy duty equipment were coming from.

"Ach, dooncha go there!" Leo said in mock outrage.

All she recieved was a lazy wave from the man before the door closed behind him, leaving her to get to her work.

o-o-o-o

The day seemed to pass in slow motion, and after doing the inventory, Leo was left to her own devices. Which, in her case, meant doodling all over her notepad and occasionally answering the phone.

However, the end of the day eventually did come, and she nearly screamed in relief as she was set free. She now remembered why she hated the rainy summer months here in this tiny city. Hardly anyone came in during the summer, and to be honest, Leo was usually left bored and creating storyboards for her graphic novels rather than redoing the inventory or keeping on top of the heavy accounting that the men had been swamped with before she'd been hired.

Three years later and she was still going through files that should have been taken care of at least five years ago. Wasn't she lucky?

"I'm heading out!" she called, knowing at least one of the several men working in the building would hear her.

As silence answered her, she sighed and pulled out the hair elastic, massaging feeling back into her scalp after being held up all day, and continued over to snag her coat off of the hanger on her way out.

o-o-o-o

Unfortunately, the rain hadn't let up, and Leo was facing a twenty minute trek to get back home, to where her warm, comfortable couch was waiting for her. It wasn't exactly the fact that she was going to be soaked that bothered her, it was the fact that she was going to be freezing and most likely have to have a shower. She wasn't really looking forward to _that_.

The streets, amazingly, were almost silent. The only sounds were her own breathing and the sound of the rain pattering all around her. The odd car passed by, splashing through the deep puddles that littered every indent in the cement for as far as she could see.

_If I get sick, the guys won't even let me walk in that door. _she thought crankily. They were like big brothers to her. Really overprotective brothers that came from all parts of the world. And if she became sick, she knew that they would personally drag her home and tuck her into bed. And then lock all escape routes in the freaking house. And then, on top of _that_, sic their wives on her.

Luckily, she made it home in record time, unlocking the door and letting herself in, automatically relaxing at the feel of the warmth of the heat against her skin. Even though her mother couldn't always be home when she arrived, she almost always turned on the heat for her if it was raining.

"Now, shower." Leo said to herself, making a break for the stairs. The sooner she was warm and comfortable, the sooner she could crank up her music, order a pizza, and work on her graphic novel.

She stripped, cranking up the water to full blast before clambering in, wincing at the temperature of the water before settling in, grabbing the shampoo and getting to work on her hair.

o-o-o-o

"Ah...couch. I've missed you." Leo crooned, collapsing onto the squishy leather contentedly. She was warm, dressed in fuzzy pyjama pants and a tank top, one of her many oversized sweaters thrown on overtop. She'd called for pizza as soon as she'd gotten dressed, and at this point was just waiting for the heavenly goodness that was meat-lovers pizza to arrive on her doorstep.

"But first.." she hummed, hauling herself back up from the couch and going over to her desk, which was situated right in front of the rather large window that looked out on the street. She could see the yellow and black camaro that marked the Witwicky's residence across the street, and she spent several seconds admiring the car before she remembered what she had originally come over for.

Grinning impishly, Leo pressed the 'ON' button on her gigantic stereo, her iPod flashing as it began to charge. Flicking the slide-thing on the screen, she tapped a couple of numbers in before scrolling down the awaiting playlist, a look of concentration on her face.

"Aha..." she murmured, triumph shining in her eyes as she found the song she was looking for. Pressing play, she waited for the music to start playing.

o-o-o-o

Bumblebee was bored.

Beyond bored, in fact. Sam and his Creator had had another bickering match over where he would be staying the night- the driveway or the garage.

Obviously, he wasn't in the garage.

Sulkily, he played his radio quietly, searching the channels to find _something _that he could listen to.

_"She's a girl with the best intentions.." _

Hold up.

Pausing in his search for decent music to listen to, Bumblebee heard the distinct sounds of something _singing_.

_"She said, "I want something that I want, something that I tell myself I need- Something that I want, and I need everything I see."_

Rotating his wheels, he rolled slightly from side to side, trying to figure out which of the organics 'houses' the sound was coming from.

A small movement caught his attention, almost directly across from him, in the house that Sam had picked up the femme earlier that day. Designation Leo.

Said femme was currently belting out the lyrics to some kind of song while holding an odd tool looking thing. Curious, he went onto the World Wide Web, searching for the object that the femme was singing into.

**Web Definition:**

_A hairbrush is a stick brush with rigid or soft bristles used in hair care for smoothing, styling, and detangling human hair, or for grooming an animal's fur. _

Why in Primus' name would she be using something like that to be singing into? Bumblebee wondered, continuing to watch the femme as she moved around her room, apparently unaware that she had an audience.

_"It's so easy to make believe, it seems you're living in a dream..Don't you see that what you need is standing right in front of you?"_

She was pretty, he supposed, for an organic femme. Her copper hair fanned out around her as she danced around the small space, her lips curved in a large smile, almost glowing with the soft light behind her.

_**-Prime to Bumblebee.- **_Optimus' low rumble startled the 'bot, and he squeaked before accessing his comm. link.

_**-Bumblebee to Prime. What is it?-**_

_**-Decepticon's have been sighted in the area. Be alert-**_

_**-Designation of Decepticon's?-**_

_**-Two. Designation: Starscream and Barricade.-**_

Bumblebee felt the sudden urge to blow something up with his cannons.

_**-Understood. Bumblebee out.-**_

Now he knew why Ironhide always wanted to take out his frustrations on rocks back at Diego Garcia.

Stupid annoying Decepticon's...

He glanced back over at the femme's home, only to find that she was no longer in her berth. The light clicked on out on the porch, however, and he realized that she had merely been answering her door.

Well, there went his entertainment.


	2. A Not So Ordinary Day

It was a couple weeks before Leo saw any signs of Sam again.

According to her calendar, school was going to be getting out sometime in the next couple of days, and as she'd predicted, the younger Witwicky came driving up, radio blastng, girlfriend in tow, on the day school got out.

She watched with just a little amusement as they practically leapt from the vehicle, sprinting across the front lawn and laughing hysterically as one tripped and fell. Rolling her eyes, she went back to sketching out her new cover, frowning as she tweaked several minute details.

"Stupid nose.." she grumbled, erasing it for what had to be the seventh time in the last thirty seconds. "All I ask is that you don't look retarded, and what do you do?"

"Leo! There's a couple sandwiches in the fridge!" her mother called from downstairs. "I'm heading out to do a couple of errands!"

"Could you please get a couple of black pens while you're gone?" she called back.

"I'll see what I can do!"

"Thanks mom!"

"Don't forget to mow the lawn!"

Crap. She'd already completely forgotten.

"Alright!"

Sighing, Leo glanced back down at her page longingly, not quite wanting to abandon it just yet. But, knowing how into her graphic novels she could get...it was probably a good idea to do it now, while she was still on track.

She pushed herself back from her desk, stretching her shoulders and sighing as they popped. Even though the sound bothered her mother to no end, Leo couldn't help but smirk as she quickly changed into something a little more suited to the nice weather outside.

o-o-o-o

Bumblebee sighed again, wishing that Sam hadn't rudely ditched him to go inside with Mikaela. Sure, she was his 'girlfriend', but he'd been the one to get them together!

He should have realized that something like this would happen. Organics tended to get a little _too _involved in these bonds that they made with one another, and in the end, someone always managed to get hurt.

Grumbling silently to himself, he began settling himself in for a quick recharge before the two hyperactive organics came back with more places they wanted to go.

However, it seemed that fate had other plans for torturing him.

Just as he was about to go into recharge, an ungodly roar echoed from across the street, almost making the poor mech go into his bipedal form to see what the frag was going on.

He scanned the houses until he noticed the same femme from a while back lugging some kind of mechanical device along behind her. From what he could tell, she was completely oblivious to everything around her, judging from her determined expression.

Maybe he wouldn't need to find something else to pass the time after all...

o-o-o-o

"Oh, come on, you stupid piece of crap." Leo muttered, glaring at the lawnmower. "Work, damnit!"

Stubbornly, the red and black machine remained silent. Growling, she yanked on the cord that was _supposed _to make the stupid thing start.

"Ugh!" she groaned, tempted to beat her head against the nearest wall. "Come on!"

Again, she pulled, and there was a stutter before it died again.

"Okay, now we're getting somewhere." she grinned. She could sense victory. Giving it a final, mighty heave, the engine roared to life.

Silently, Leo thanked whatever mechanical God was out there as she hauled the stupid thing to the front yard, slipping her headphones into her ears and cranking up her tunes.

If this thing thought it would conquer her, it had another thing coming.

She began mowing, her runners no doubt getting covered in the flying grass that was being spun in all directions. At this point, she didn't care if her bare legs turned green. The weather was freaking hot. It had obviously been a good idea to wear a sports bra instead of a shirt, too. The only problem she could see in this situation was the fact that she'd completely forgotten why exactly she hated denim shorts.

They chafed.

Badly.

The sputter of the lawnmower had her quickly toss that particular thought out the window. The stupid thing didn't have the holding bag for all the grass, so she was stuck with tilting it to allow all the grass to fly in every direction. Which actually amused her quite a bit, now that she was watching it.

_"Quit your bitchin move your feet, until the break of dawn." _she sang out, bobbing her head in time to the beat. _"Because nobody gives a damn about the day that you were born."_

She continued singing, not really caring if anyone questioned what the hell she was doing mowing the lawn and singing random Disney music. They could suck it up, as far as she was concerned.

Leo was almost done half the front lawn when the motor died.

"Don't tell me. It's out of gas." she muttered to herself, as nothing seemed to be broken or out of place.

Scowling, she jogged back to the shed, checking to see if her mother had gotten any extra gas and stored it when she wasn't looking.

"Crap." she frowned. "Guess I'll go ask the neighbors if they have any."

First was the Johnson's. Negative. Then the Michaels'. Negative. And then the Witwicky's.

She basically drooled over the camaro as she passed before getting her head back in the game and getting up to the front door. Knocking twice, she didn't have to wait long before the door unlocked and swung open.

"Hello..?" Judy asked hesitantly, recognizing the girl from somewhere but unable to place her finger on the where.

"Uh, hey. I'm Leo Mclay. I live just across the street, and the lawnmower ran out of gas. Do you by chance have any to spare?"

Judy's face creased into one of thought. "We might...I'll go ask Ron. He does most of the lawncare." she hummed, opening the door wider. "Come in while I go find that husband of mine."

"Thank you, Mrs. Witwicky." Leo smiled, watching as the woman literally scampered off to find the man of the house.

Which then left her to her own devices for several minutes.

She walked along the wall behind the door, looking at the framed photos and grinning at some of them. Sam had been a pretty cute kid, she recalled. Always running around with a smile on his face. She'd been the same, though different. She'd always been covered in bruises from her many 'klutz attacks', as her mother had fondly called them.

"Uhh...hi?"

Leo's head snapped up, her eyes widening.

Sam and Mikaela were both staring at her curiously, Sam's arm possessively slung around one of her shoulders.

"Hey." Leo nodded, ponytail bobbing.

Mikaela looked a little wary of her, her eyes narrowed slightly.

"So...what are you doing here?"

"The mower ran out of gas." she shrugged. "No one else seems to have any extra to spare."

"Oh." Sam blinked.

_Oh, come on. You really thought I would come over here just to see you? _

Luckily, Judy came back with a cheery grin on her face, closely followed by Ron.

"You can use some of the extra gas." Ron muttered, having obviously been conned by his wife.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Witwicky." Leo grinned. "Mom would have my head if I didn't get the lawn done."

"Oh, it's no problem, dear." Judy smiled. "Ron will get you the gas from around back."

"Oh, no, it's fine. I could get it myself-" she broke in, only to be cut off by a waving hand from Judy.

"Ron will get it."

Leo settled down, feeling a little uncomfortable as Ron led her around back and hauled the container off of the shed floor. She took it from him gratefully, promising to return it later, hopefully refilled.

As she walked back down the driveway, she paused by the camaro, tentatively running her fingers over the hood and revelling in the smooth feel of the metal beneath them.

But, a second later, she took them away, remembering that there was still half the lawn to do before her mother returned home.

o-o-o-o

After refilling the lawnmower, Leo was finally able to finish the lawn.

As she'd known, her feet up to her knees were coated in green debris, making her look like she was impersonating the Hulk.

Any and all attempts at removing the stains without soap and water was pretty much impossible, and Leo was eager to get into the shower and get rid of the itching sensation that was currently irritating her half to death.

When the water was turned on as cold she could possibly manage, she clambered in, immediately scrubbing at her legs with a sponge. She didn't stop until every sign of the green had disappeared from her legs, and even then, she continued, lathering up with her favorite pomegranate bodywash.

Once she was sure that she was completely clean, (and might have even taken a couple layers of skin off) Leo finally turned off the water and began drying off.

Looking at herself in the mirror, she noted that there seemed to be a new outbreak of blackheads on her nose, her freckles almost disappearing becuase of it. Internally groaning, she knew there wasn't much she could do about it other than to keep her skin clean and keep her hair out of her face.

Speaking of which..

Her copper hair was beginning to take the form of her mother's mane, though her green and grey eyes were still all her own. Right now, however, they appeared to be a dark emerald in color, no doubt from the steam covering the mirror, along with her flushed skin.

Grabbing her tank top and shorts, she pulled them on, pulling her hair up into a high ponytail and making sure that her double pierced ears had earrings through them. That done, she exited, her bare feet padding along the floor lightly.

Idly, Leo wondered what errands her mother had had to do that could possibly make her stay out so long. Usually it was just a run to the grocery store, or going to order something for a client before she departed on a business trip.

So what on earth was she doing today?

She wondered this as she went downstairs to the kitchen, digging through a couple of drawers before she found the sandwiches. Scrounging further, and she found herself a bottle of water and the remnants of a bag of baby carrots. She didn't wait to get a plate before she began eating, however. Instead, she began munching on a couple of carrots as she placed the food on the counter and plucking a plate from the cupboard.

Now that she thought about it, it seemed like a pretty good idea to go eat out on the front lawn. There was a lawn chair somewhere in the back shed, and if she recalled correctly, it was pretty comfortable.

She could even bring out her iPod and sketchbook, since the chair had arms on it.

Nodding to herself, she exited through the back door next to the fridge, skipping through the fresh cut grass to the shed. It was relatively easy to grab the chair and bring it up to the front yard, but it was slightly more difficult to bring all of her food and various other items out at the same time. She ended up making two trips, and before anything else caught her attention, slipped her headphones in.

Tapping the play button, she began munching on the first sandwich.

"BLT..." she mumbled through the mouthful, closing her eyes in pleasure. It was only three in the afternoon, and already, she was exhausted from the days events. It was a good thing she was out in the sun and relaxing. She worked six days a week right now, trying to save up for college tuition, but she knew it was going to be a while yet before she would be able to go.

The sun began to make her eyes drift closed, but she wasn't going to let herself fall asleep until she was done her food. She was stll starving, after all.

The carrots soon ran out, leaving her with her water and her other sandwich. The other sandwich, another BLT, was gone within several minutes, leaving her with just the water.

Her iPod playing soft music in the background, Leo allowed herself to close her eyes.

o-o-o-o

"Leo? Honey, wake up."

Leo jolted awake, blinking alertly. Her mother was leaning over her, the sun illuminating her features from the back.

"Oh, hey mom." she yawned, starting to sit up. She was suddenly grateful that she'd remembered to rub sunscreen on herself before leaving the safety of the house, as she was certain that otherwise, she would be waking with a nasty sunburn. "How was your day?"

"I got called in for a while. Sorry I was out so long."

"S'okay." Leo mumbled, stretching. Her mother cringed at the sharp cracks that came from her back, but said nothing about it, instead helping her daughter up. "I was just wondering if you'd gotten lost or something."

"No, not this time." her mother laughed, smiling. "I hope I didn't make you worry too much."

"Nope." Leo assured. "I had plenty to do. Don't worry about it."

"If you say so, love."

Leo hummed, standing and continuing to stretch out her cramped muscles.

"So, what's for dinner?"


	3. Suspicion

Leo woke up feeling like a truck hat hit her at some point in the last twenty four hours.

"Owwww..." she groaned, shifting to attempt to shut off her alarm. She didn't quite realize that her iPod wasn't next to her, as it usually was, until her hand hit thin air. Unfortunately, the momentum from her launched hand threw her out of bed and onto the cold floor.

"I hate Mondays." she snarled, curling up in the blankets that had come off the bed with her. She glared at the clock across the room, torn between going back to sleep and going for a run.

"Run." she finally decided, deciding that she needed to get her lazy ass up and get going if she wanted to finish her two hour run, get showered, and get to work on time.

It took her a couple minutes to actually make it over to her closet to get dressed, due to the fact that her bladder was alerting her that she had to pee. As in run to the bathroom now before you wet yourself kind of thing.

Tugging her sports bra on over her head, she yawned, only really semi-conscious at the moment. Over her bra went a baggy shirt, and she pulled on a pair of biking shorts that she didn't really use anymore. Then the socks, and her now clean runners.

The final touch, in her opinion, would be pulling her hair back so that she would actually be able to see where she was running. As it was still dark out, she didn't really want to risk getting lost, but decided to leave her phone behind. She preferred to be technology free when she was running. There was more time for her to be left alone with her thoughts, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Making sure to leave a note, as she always did, Leo slipped out the front door and began doing her warm up stretches, making sure that everything was loose and wasn't about to cause her any problems when she was actually running. Her ankles, especially, were usually the main culprits in her tumbles.

Even though she was a klutz, Leo made sure that she stayed as healthy as possible. Even if it meant getting up at four thirty every other morning to go for a run.

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled, rotated her shoulders a couple more times, and began jogging across the lawn before hitting the street.

Already, she felt herself falling into the usual mindless routine of just running. Her usual route took about two hours, and left her with plenty of time to get ready for work and get a little done on her novel.

She hadn't been running long when she noticed a familiar camaro driving down the street, closely followed by the SAR Hummer H2 and the blue and red painted Peterbilt that she had glimpsed once or twice before.

The sight baffled Leo. What on earth would Sam be doing out this early, just driving around?

However, when the vehicles passed, she nearly had a heart attack.

There was no one driving the camaro. Or the Hummer. Or the Peterbilt.

They were completely vacant.

o-o-o-o

_**-Prime, it would appear that the femme has realized our lack of occupants.- **_Ratchet mentioned over the comm. link.

_**-Don't take any action. She is still an innocent.- **_Optimus warned.

_**-Not for long, Prime.- **_another voice warned over the link. _**-Decepticon. Designation Barricade. Coming in fast on your left flank.-**_

_**-Transmission recieved, Ironhide. Prime out.-**_

Optimus cursed, speeding up. Bumblebee and Ratchet followed suit, hoping that the femme wouldn't get caught in the crossfire that was sure to happen in the next several moments.

Bumblebee's concern was still 'heard' over the link, however, and it didn't wane as the sound of screeching tires suddenly reached the three Autobots.

_**-Ready yourselves.- **_Ratchet stated suddenly.

_**-Bring it on.- **_Bumblebee grinned, cracking his figurative knuckles using his radio.

o-o-o-o

Leo was choosing to completely ignore the fact that the three vehicles she'd just passed had no drivers. Instead, she focused on running like hell and hoping that nothing was following her.

_I was seeing things. Sam was probably bent over because he dropped something, and the other two...well, the Peterbilt is really big, so it's possible that I just didn't see the driver...and the Hummer had tinted windows. Yeah, that's it. This is all just a big misunderstanding. _

She'd officially managed to convince herself that it had been nothing to worry about. She would even go over and ask Sam about it later. Just to clarify that he had been in the vehicle. That her mind was playing tricks on her because it was so early.

And yet, there was something in the back of her mind that was screaming at her, _This is real! _

Her run was now over. Taking the next alleyway, she ran back towards home, warring with herself the entire way.

o-o-o-o

By the time she arrived back home, the lights were on in the Witwicky residence, and the camaro was again parked innocently in the driveway. There were no signs of the Hummer or the Peterbilt anywhere.

Her mother was up as well, and greeted her with the usual cup of french vanilla coffee at the door.

"You're back early. Did something happen?" Jocelyn asked, noting how Leo flinched at the words.

"Nope. Just decided to come back early, get some more time to work on the novel." she smiled back. "But I've just got to go ask Sam something, so I'll do that in a minute."

"Alright." her mother smiled back, though it was a bit wary. What was her daughter hiding from her?

o-o-o-o

She knocked on the door, waiting impatiently and glancing over her shoulder at the yellow and black camaro sitting in the driveway. Before, she had adored the machine, but now, she was just wary. There was something off about it, something dark. And she didn't like it one bit.

The lock clicked on the front door, and a curious Sam opened the door.

"Uh, hey." Leo blurted out. "I was just wondering what you were doing out about a half hour ago, driving around town with a couple of your friends? The one's who own the Peterbilt and the Hummer?"

Sam looked confused for a moment, either because she was talking at about a million miles per hour or because he hadn't actually been out. But, a second later, his eyes lit up in recognition.

"Oh, right. Yeah, my friends. They had me out there because they wanted to re-act a scene from a movie. They were pretty drunk."

"That's a little unsafe, letting them drive around under the influence." Leo raised a brow. "Not to mention against the law."

"Ah. Yeah. Well, there's not a lot I can do about them, but they were pretty insistent." Sam stuttered, looking over her shoulder at the camaro. "But Ratchet- he owns the Hummer- he wasn't out of it. He's the one that called me to warn me."

Leo wasn't even listening at this point. Even though Sam was basically rambling, the necessary words had been spoken. He'd been in the vehicle after all. She'd been imagining things after all.

_Not_.

"Well, I was just wondering, considering you and your friends passed me on the street and I didn't see anyone in your car." she said casually.

"Yeah. Well, I dropped something. I think it might have been my phone." Sam said, looking a little flustered.

"Okay then." Leo shrugged. "I was curious, because it didn't look like there was anyone in the car, is all."

"Sorry if we gave you a scare." Sam apologized before checking his watch. "Crap. Uh, it was nice seeing you, but I've gotta go get ready for school, so.."

"Yeah. I get it. I have to go get ready for work." she replied. "See you later, Sam."

"You too!" he called after her.

She didn't believe it for one second. Sam was a shitty liar.

Which only left one question.

_What is he trying to hide?_

o-o-o-o

"Morning!" she called, entering the shop. Seeing no one, she went into the main part of the building, which was the actual bay for all the vehicles.

"Hey, anyone here?" she called.

"Ach, if it isn't the wee cub." Clay returned, popping out from one of the caverns in the floor, tucked underneath a semi of some kind. "Wee early for ya ta be arrivin', isn't it?"

"Thought I'd come in early today." Leo offered. "Anyone else here yet?"

"Will an' Charlie." Clay pointed to the back, where the showers were located. "Buggers messed up mah books."

"Ah." in other words, she wouldn't be seeing much of them for the next couple of days, unless they were on their lunch break. Which, knowing Clay, would be spent while they fixed up Clay's records.

She pitied them, but only because she'd been the one to organize them.

"Joe's coming in today, right?" she asked.

"Aye. He'll be along in a wee bit."

"Alright. I got the parts he ordered last week in, so I was just wondering."

"Speaking o' which, did ya order the filters ah asked for?" Clay asked, his voice echoing as he went back to work on the semi.

"Yep. Donna told me she can get them to me for tomorrow."

"Good. This damned wanker needs to get out of mah bay 'afore I boot it to the bloody junkyard."

Leo rolled her eyes at Clay's antics before heading back to the other half of the shop. "Yes Clay. I'll see if I can get Cathy to bring them over today if she has the time."

"Ah knew it was a bright idea ta hire ya, cub." Clay muttered under his breath before he powered up one of his heavy duty tools.

Leo typed in her password and let the computer boot up as she flicked on the lights and turned on the heat. It always seemed to be brutally cold in the shop, even in the middle of the summer months, and she found that rather than the AC, like the guys did out in the bay, she needed heat.

But she'd rather be a little uncomfortable than have her teeth chattering.

o-o-o-o

"Hey, Leo!"

Leo looked up from her screen, a grin stretching her lips. "Phil! Been a while since you've come here."

"Yeah, well.." the heavier man shrugged. "It's been busy over at the warehouse."

"It's starting to pick up here, too." she nodded, resting her chin on her hand. "So, what do you need?"

"Well, you carry paint, right?"

Leo scrunched up her brows, trying to recall if they did. Turning back to the computer, she quickly typed in a keyword search, scrolling down before shaking her head. "No, but I can get Donna to get some from one of my guys. It can be here by tomorrow morning."

"Yep. I need fire engine red, and navy blue."

"Interesting...what kind of truck did you guys get in?" Leo penned down the paint colors, glancing up for more information.

"Some kind of custom Peterbilt. Nice piece of metal."

"Flames on the side?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Phil looked a little confused.

"I saw it this morning when I was out for a run. It belongs to one of my neighbors friends. Apparently, the guy that owns the Peterbilt was drunk off his ass." Leo explained casually.

"Probably explains why the guy's nowhere in sight when we opened shop." Phil mused. "Anyway, I need an exhaust pipe too. It looks like someone tried to blowtorch the paint off."

"Really? That's weird."

_And only fueling the fire. _

"Yeah. Well, I should get back to the shop before the guys decide to start getting rid of all those dents without me."

"Have fun!" she called after him as he left.

As it clicked back into place, she grabbed her headset and dialed the number that she should really put on speed dial at this point.

"Donna here."

"Hey, Donna. It's Leo, your favorite lady." she grinned, continuing to type. "I've got an order for you from Phil. He needs paint. Navy and fire engine red."

"Leo! Good to hear from you. Yeah, I can get it to you by tomorrow morning. From Jase, I assume?"

"You know me well, Donna." Leo laughed. "Thanks, and I'll make sure to send Cathy back with a batch of brownies tomorrow when she delivers it."

"Browniees..." Donna murmured longingly over the line. "I love your brownies."

"I know you do. Hence why I'm making them for Cathy to bring back for you. And make sure she knows that you all know she's bringing them back, or I'm never making them for her again."

"You and your blackmail, Leo." Donna said in amusement. "Well, gotta go. Another customer is calling my name."

"See you soon." Leo promised, disconnecting the call. Checking the time, she let her head fall to the hard surface of the counter.

"What am I going to _do _all day?" she whined.


	4. Robots and Sleuthing, Oh My!

_A military operation involves deception. _

_Even though you are competent, appear to be incompetent. _

_Though effective, appear to be ineffective._

_-The Art of War_

o-o-o-o

There was something really off about that damned camaro.

Leo was obsessing over it. It had only been a couple of days since she'd seen the three 'headless horsemen', so to speak, it now felt like hundreds of years. As she sat at her desk, attempting to finish page thirteen of her novel, she struggled not to stay on the thought.

There was definitely something going on here, something much larger than she could imagine. Obviously, if cars were suddenly able to go driving around on their own.

Not to mention the events that had occurred yesterday. Near the high school, a gas line broke, causing thousands of dollars in damage and posing a safety hazard to anyone in the vicinity of three miles.

Unfortunately, the shop was only two miles away from the school, and had to be shut down for an undetermined amount of time so the authorities could investigate.

But that wasn't all. All day yesterday, she'd been hearing planes going over the city far more than they should. Was it a terrorist attack?

Sighing, she pushed her papers and pens to the side, realizing that she wasn't going to get anywhere like this.

Grabbing her iPod, she went downstairs to the main computer, which her mother had told her she could use for her work.

"I hope this counts as work, because otherwise I may be in trouble." she murmured, clicking on the internet icon.

o-o-o-o

_**-Bumblebee to Prime.-**_

_**-Prime here. What is it, Bumblebee?-**_

_**-The femme has been watching me all day. I think she's wary.-**_

_**-Does she know about our existence?-**_

_**-I don't know.-**_

Optimus sighed. _**-Keep an eye on her then.-**_

_**-Yes sir. Bumblebee out.-**_

He knew there was something up with her. She'd been staring at his altmode for the last four hours, without showing any signs of stopping. It was a little disturbing to be stared at like that.

o-o-o-o

_Cars without drivers_

Okay, maybe that wasn't the best thing to Google. A ton of random pictures from a bunch of different sites came up, and there was even the Cars movie among them. Which wasn't what she was looking for, but it was slightly amusing to find it.

Other things that came up were videos about technological discoveries that scientists were making, but that wasn't it either.

_Weird occurrences with cars_

A new set of results popped up, one of which she wanted to ignore completely. She did not need to see that kind of stuff done to cars.

Scrolling down, she got a whole lot more of nothing, and was about to search something else up when she stumbled upon a site about the-real-effing-deal. Curious, she clicked on the link, not entirely sure what to expect.

There was something blinking on the screen, and as she glanced at the words, she caught Mission City.

Opening another tab, she searched it up.

Apparently, according to the articles that came up, there was a giant natural gas leak or something that happened a couple of years ago, causing the entire city to be evacuated. Odd, considering that the city was so large and the gas leak would have had to be the size of a skyscraper.

Flipping back to the other tab, Leo continue scrolling through, until she came to a video.

Clicking play, she was suddenly unable to breathe as she saw images passing by on the screen, live footage from places all over the world.

Giant. Fucking. _Robots_.

She continued to look through the site, finding more and more evidence that was beginning to make her head spin. Just what was the government trying to do by hiding all of this information? Or was it even real? Some kid thinking it would be funny to post a bunch of artificially made clips to scare people? She wouldn't put it past any eleven year olds out there in this day and age.

Okay. Next topic.

_Sam Witwicky_

Holy shit, were there a lot of articles that popped up for him. Most of them were from eBay, a couple were from forums, and a couple more were from God knows where.

Apparently, Sam had a thing for trying to sell a bunch of his Grandfather's old belongings. The guy was famous for making some kind of discovery down in the Arctic, but the articles she read never actually stated what he found.

There was one hell of a mystery building up around her neighbor, and she wanted to know what. But how did she want to go about this? She could directly confront Sam, but would he tell her anything, or would he keep his mouth shut?

Groaning, she massaged the side of her head, feeling a headache coming on.

"Holy crap. I was just searching up one thing, and now there's a bunch of stuff linking Sam to a bunch of really weird shit." she muttered, staring at the screen. "Ugh."

If she was going to be doing this for a while, she refused to go any further until she had a cup of coffee in her hands. Maybe a couple sticks of celery.

o-o-o-o

_**-Soundwave to Barricade.-**_

_**-Transmission confirmed. Barricade to Soundwave.-**_

_**-There is an organic near your location. Designation: Leona Mclay. Confirmed activity regarding Autobots.-**_

_**-What are my orders?-**_

_**-Surveillance. Do not approach.- **_

Barricade growled, but didn't argue against the transmission. Soundwave reported directly to Megatron, and if Barricade went against orders, he knew that his spark would no longer be in his chassis.

_**-Copy that. Barricade out.-**_

o-o-o-o

Leo sighed, knowing that now she'd learned as much as she could over an internet connection, she could get back to work on page thirteen.

Her mother was back from wherever she'd disappeared to for the day, and she was now puttering around the kitchen and making dinner.

"So, mom, what do you know about Mission City? You were there when the gas leak happened, right?" she asked, leaning against the island that kept the dining room and the kitchen apart.

"Well.." her mother hummed, slicing and dicing potatoes and peppers, "It was terrifying. One second I was in a business meeting, and the next there are alarms blaring, and people in black suits and army suits swarming everywhere..."

"Army?" Leo asked, lifting a brow.

"There was suspicion that it was a terrorist attack." Jocelyn explained, pouring the potatoes and peppers into a frying pan. "But it turns out that it wasn't, so there was nothing to worry about."

Leo narrowed her eyes at her mother's casual tone. "Mom, there's something you're not telling me, isn't there?"

Jocelyn sighed, turning to face her daughter while crossing her arms. There was a sudden grief there, and guilt, and there was a weary feel surrounding her mother.

"Leo, I want to tell you, but I am under strict orders from the government and the President himself." she said softly. "I could be putting you in a lot of danger if I told you."

The President?

Leo blinked.

_Mom, just what did you see?_

o-o-o-o

_Meanwhile..._

President Obama sneezed suddenly, getting the bad feeling that he was being spoken about somewhere.

o-o-o-o

_**-Frenzy to Barricade. Femme located. Designation Jocelyn Mclay. Data on Autobots in possession. What are orders?-**_

_**-Send coordinates.- **_Barricade replied shortly.

_**-Sent. Further action required?-**_

_**-Await arrival.-**_

_**-Frenzy out.-**_

o-o-o-o

Jocelyn knew there was something watching her and Leo.

She also knew what she had to do now that she'd been found.

It was late- Leo had gone up to bed about an hour ago. But, she also knew that Leo was most likely working on her graphic novel, and was probably going to be up for a while yet.

She took a deep breath, calming her nerves.

_You're safe for now. You can make it until you get outside. _

"Leo, honey? Are you still up?" she asked softly, knocking on the door before opening it slowly.

"Mhm. You need something?"

"Just saying good-night. I got a call from work, so I won't be home until tomorrow night." Jocelyn said, moving to stand behind her daughter. Wrapping her arms around Leo's shoulders, she pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, taking in the ink and pencil sketch that was splayed out in front of Leo. "Your cover's coming along well."

"You think so?" Leo frowned, too absorbed to really listen to what her mother was saying at the moment.

"Know so." she assured, pressing her lips to her daughter's head again. "I love you, Leo."

"Love you too, mom." Leo replied absently, beginning to shade in a limb that vaguely resembled an arm.

Jocelyn breathed in her daughter's scent, hoping it wouldn't be the last time, before leaving, closing the door with a sense of finalty.

She refused to get Leo involved in all of this. She'd promised herself that much when she'd resigned.

Quietly, she slipped down the stairs and out the door, her eyes darting around, the hair on the back of her neck prickling unpleasantly. Now she knew that she was being watched, now that she was out in the open like this.

However, the only sign of life was the police cruiser parked across the street, the figure inside appearing to be eating a donut, and she seriously doubted she had much to fear from him.

_The typical policeman eating the donut routine. _Jocelyn couldn't help but smile at the sight.

At least, until the police cruiser changed forms so quickly that the edges around it blurred.

Jocelyn breathed a quick curse before making a break for it across the lawn.

Heavy pounding of what she thought was feet shook the ground, sending her hurtling to the grass with a yelp. Rolling, she was back on her feet in a second, but it proved to be futile against the creature pursuing her.

A snarl crossing her features, she turned, running towards the street instead. Unfortunately, the robotic _thing _behind her was just a little too quick for her, and in a smooth motion, snapped its metal fingers around her like a cage.

It was then that she allowed herself to scream.

o-o-o-o

Leo glanced up as the sounds of crashing and a scream echoed around the street. Frowning, she pulled out a headphone, recognizing the voice the second time it screamed.

"_Mom." _she breathed, pulling open the blinds.

The sight that greeted her made her eyes widen in horror and realization.

"That is definitely not something an eleven year old posted on the web." she whispered as she took in the giant robotic _thing_.

Struggling to escape from what appeared to be its hand was her mother. Her face was scratched, but she was fighting to get out of the unforgiving grip that the red eyed being had her trapped in.

"Mom!" she yelled before whirling and slamming open the door, taking the stairs two at a time, slipping on the last one. It sent her flying, and she landed with a heavy crack against the wooden floors.

Struggling to stand, she ignored the pain that was spreading from a point in her ankle, limping to the door and wrenching it open.

However, before she could do anything, something cold, sharp, and definitely metallic tackled her from behind, knocking them both to the ground. Yelping as her injured ankle hit the ground again, she twisted, trying to get at whatever the hell was attacking her. When she finally managed to face the creature, she very nearly had a panic attack, but managed to hiss and claw at what she thought was its face.

It chittered, skittering back as her nails gouged something that looked like it shouldn't be touched.

It looked like some kind of metalwork project a fanatic would make, with four arms that branched off from the elbow. On one side, a couple of wicked looking objects protruded, looking like knives of some kind.

Blue eyes narrowed at her, and with a blur, it launched itself back at her.

She screamed, trying to keep its claws, or whatever the hell they were called, away from her neck. It seemed pretty intent on stabbing her in the side of the neck with one of its elbow weapons, but she tried to keep it at bay.

They rolled, Leo dominating the metal robot, before one of its limbs got free and slashed at her chest.

Adrenaline pumping, she took no notice, reaching for something, anything, that could be used to kill this thing.

The kitchen seemed like her best bet at this point, so, with a mighty heave, she launched the sucker straight up. What she wasn't expecting was for the things elbow weapons to get stuck in the ceiling and pin it there.

Almost dragging herself, Leo made a break for the kitchen, tearing through the drawers until she found a heavy cast iron frying pan, one that her mother saved for when they went camping, or the power went out. Either way, it was about to become this robot's worst nightmare.

By now, it had managed to get rid of the pestilence that was the ceiling, and was now coming at her again, this time a little more cautiously.

Leo readied the frying pan. It had to weigh at least five pounds.

Seeing some kind of weakness, the robot came at her again, claws extended.

Instinctively, she swung, and a second later the robot was down, apparently stunned.

"Okay. Time to run." she panted, turning and running for the open front door.

When she got out, there was no sign of her mother or the giant robot, but there was another smaller one waiting for her.

"You have got to be kidding me." she snapped. Now she wished she hadn't ditched the frying pan. She could have used it.

The new robot arrival came closer, chittering like the other one had.

"Screw you." Leo informed it before leaping at it. She had no idea what the hell she was thinking, but it obviously wasn't logically.

The robot was taken off guard, and she flattened the thing as she landed. However, this one seemed to be a little more armed, as blades popped out of nowhere.

Leo ducked the first slash, but the second caught her in the jaw. Fire exploded, and she saw stars for a moment before she went after one of the blades. It was actually pretty easy to do, once she had the arm pinned down.

The next problem she faced was removing said blade, considering it was connected to the robots wrist.

"Sorry, asshole." she said sarcastically before ripping it from the creature. It howled, making a desperate swing to decapitate her, but Leo blocked it with some difficulty with her new weapon.

Automatically, basically on autopilot, she pinned the other arm down before jabbing the blade into the robots chest. It squealed in pain before it went limp, the other blade falling to the ground with the arm.

What she'd forgotten was that the robot she'd stunned...wasn't so stunned anymore. And now it was pretty pissed off that she'd attacked it.

It locked itself around her shoulders and chest, the metal biting into her sore and bruised skin, the grip tightening and causing her to begin losing breath.

Taking a chance, she fell back, hoping that her body mass would be enough to crush the bugger.

As they connected with the ground, Leo winced at more pain, but pulled at the arms around her neck. Fortunately, the thing was still a little disoriented, judging by its feeble squawk, and she shoved it away from her again before pushing herself to her feet in order to run. Preferably very far, very quickly.

She heard the robot chittering again, and wondered what exactly it meant before her leg gave out from under her and sent her flying to the pavement.

Which hurt.

A freaking lot.

Curling in on herself, she waited for the thing to kill her already.

But the final blow never came.

Warily, Leo opened her eyes, expecting to see the robot hovering over her.

Instead, she saw another giant robot, with a giant cannon, aiming straight at the other robot.

She didn't really care if the new arrival was friend or foe. She was exhausted and hurt, and to be perfectly honest, she didn't even fucking care that her lawn looked like a bomb fell on it.

She passed out.


	5. A Little Unwanted Suppression

_Speed is the essence of war._

_Take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness; _

_travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions._

_-The Art of War_

o-o-o-o

She could hear something buzzing faintly in her ears.

She felt like she was burning from the inside out. Pain, everywhere, it crawled and licked her skin like hungry flames, surging from her chest like a desperate heartbeat. She wanted to claw it out from her, take it away.

But she couldn't.

She thought she could see sky for a moment before darkness closed in on her again, thought she could hear concerned voices that warbled as if they were speaking through water. Vaguely, she wondered how that was even possible.

It hurt to think, to try and wrap her mind around anything. It was much more soothing to be lulled by the gentle black smoke that curled around her like an affectionate cat, nuzzling her shins and pulling her deeper into the dreamscape that waited for her.

She could hear screaming. She wondered who was in such pain to be making those sounds. It was as if it was a wounded animal.

She'd been bitten by a wounded raccoon once. It had gotten trapped by a paw in a dumpster, and she'd freed it from the prison. Only to be bitten moments later. She didn't blame the poor creature. She would have done the same thing in that sort of situation.

_"-swipe, you're with me. Ironhide.."_

What was that? There was a voice, low and rumbling. It almost sounded like her grandfather.

_"-she's regaining consciousness."_

There was that voice again, layered on top of all the pain and a ringing in her ears she couldn't quite place.

_"It's still leaking Energon-"_

_"Suck to be yo, bro."_

_"What's dat? I think mah sensors still overloaded, bro."_

_"Nevahmind."_

o-o-o-o

Leo didn't remember what happened after that.

The next time she came back to consciousness, there was a steel ceiling above her and the faint sounds of echoing machinery.

"Mom!" she shot up, almost immediately collapsing again, clutching her chest. Glancing down, she was surprised to see that she was heavily bandaged in several places on her forearms, chest, and legs. Her jaw felt stiff and most definitely on fire.

She took a deep breath in cautiously, blinking back tears as pain seared through her lungs.

As images flew in front of her eyes, Leo remembered everything. She'd been attacked by fucking _robots_.

Panic overloaded her senses, and she immediately realized that she was probably somewhere dangerous. She needed to get out of here, needed to _escape_-

"Where are you going?"

She shrieked, automatically whirling, and lost her balance, toppling to the floor in an ungraceful heap of trembling, pain filled limbs.

"Whoa, whoa." the man, she noted, said gently, shushing her with his hands. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

"Who are you? Where am I? Where's my mother?" Leo chittered at supersonic speeds. "What the fucking hell happened? Why was there a fucking robot attack in Mission City? What attacked me?"

"Oh boy." the man sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're really in trouble."

_Oh, shit. _

Whimpering, she scrabbled to get back to her feet, though everything ached like a _sonofabitch._ "Don't touch me!"

"Okay. Okay. I won't touch you." the man replied, showing his hands in an innocent gesture. "But you are injured, and you need to be resting-"

"I'm not doing _anything _until I know _what the fuck_ is going on!" Leo retorted, her voice raising an octave as she escalated towards full blown panic. "I was _attacked _by a _fucking _mini monster! My mother was _taken _by a gigantic fucking _robot!"_

"This must be difficult for you." the man said quietly, making Leo snap her jaw closed. Her chest was heaving from the force of her words, her eyes were probably resembling a feral cat of some kind, and she had no doubt in her mind that this poor guy was probably the one who had drawn the short straw.

Mind, these thoughts all happened in a far away corner in the back of her mind, so she continued staring at him like he was nuts.

"My name is Major William Lennox. I'm a part of NEST. You are currently in Diego Garcia. Your mother was taken by Decepticons. More specifically, Barricade." the man said calmly, moving to sit cross-legged across from her. "You were attacked by two mini 'bots. Frenzy and an unknown Decepticon."

Leo blinked, though the words still weren't quite sinking in. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"Why would I lie about something like this?" Lennox asked.

"You tell me." she demanded wearily, already feeling exhaustion creeping back up on her. "All I know is that one second I'm listening to my music and drawing my novel, and the next I'm whacking a _robot _with a _frying pan_. And _then_, after _that_, waking up here."

"Alright. I can understand how weird this is. Believe me when I say that." Lennox said with a snort. "But not all of those robots you saw are 'bad guys'. There's two sides. The Autobots, which are on our side, and the Decepticons, which are the bad guys. You were attacked by Decepticons, but Bumblebee, one of the Autobots, managed to get to you in time before you ended up a puddle of goo on the ground."

Leo blinked. Did she just hear this guy right when he said _Bumblebee?_

Her confusion must have been showing, because Lennox grinned. "Yeah, it's an odd name. But really, he's harmless. When he's not fighting the Decepticons, he keeps an eye on your neighbor. Samuel Witwicky."

Hold. The. Phone.

"I knew that damn Camaro was weird." she muttered, fighting off the much needed sleep that was pulling her eyes down. "I could have sworn it knew that I was watching it.."

The last thing she remembered was a pair of arms lifting her up before she fell back asleep.

o-o-o-o

When Sam woke up the next morning, Bumblebee was gone, and there was a lot of sirens going off outside.

Grumbling, he rolled out of bed before shuffling downstairs and taking a look out the front window. And then doing a double take.

The Mclay's house was a mass of caution tape, news reporters, concerned neighbors, and the authorities. And he suddenly got one of the familiar sinking feelings in his gut.

"Mom? Dad?" he called out nervously, turning to walk into the kitchen. There was no sign of his parents, but they'd left him a note on the counter saying to enjoy the day, as his dad was taking his mother out for the day.

Some things just weren't necessary to know.

Shuddering, he rummaged through the fridge before finding the orange juice. Unscrewing the cap, he took a long drink straight from the carton, wondering what the hell was going on. He didn't remember anything out of the ordinary during the night, but then again, as of late, he'd been becoming more and more of a heavy sleeper. If anything, he blamed it on Bee. The Autobot was always moving around out back at night, so he supposed that that was the most logical reason for his non-wakefulness.

Speaking of which...

Checking out front again, there was no sign of Bumblebee anywhere along the busy street.

"Uh oh.." he muttered, almost running out to the garage and flipping open the door. As he'd suspected. Nothing.

"Bee, where are you..?" he hummed anxiously, going back inside and searching for the phone.

This warranted an emergency call to Mikaela.

o-o-o-o

Leo wasn't alone the next time she woke up.

Lennox was sitting next to her, his head tilted back as he stared at the metal ceiling in contemplation.

"You know, if you do that for much longer, you might fall asleep." she commented dryly, pushing herself into a sitting position.

The male flicked his gaze down toward earth, back to her, and she felt a sudden uncomfortable moment as he examined her face with his emotionless eyes. Sighing, he shrugged, a loose grin crossing his features. "Did you have a nice rest?" he inquired.

"I don't know yet. Did you tell me that there are such things as giant robots, or was that all a dream?" she narrowed her eyes, gingerly keeping herself from taking too deep of breaths.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't a dream." Lennox sighed again. "And I have a team searching for your mother as we speak."

"Thank you."

Leo didn't quite know why she was being so calm about all of this. Last time, from what she remembered, she'd had a big shit fest about all of it and tired herself out. So why was she suddenly so reasonable?

"You're suppressing the thoughts." Lennox stated, almost making her think that he could read minds. "It's possible. The memories are still there, but your mind is refusing to fully accept them."

"You're kind of creepy, if you don't mind me saying." Leo said mildly. "I was just thinking about how rational I'm being. It's a bit of a coincidence."

"Well." Lennox shrugged in a casual sort of way. "It's an automatic assumption. Plus, you're a bit of an open book."

"Thank you. That's always the kind of thing a girl wants to hear right after she's woken up from a traumatic event." Leo drawled sarcastically.

There was an uncomfortable pause in the conversation as both of them fell into their own thoughts. Leo wondered how on earth they could be searching for her mother with hardly anything to go on. Other than a giant robot named Barricade kidnapped her.

And judging by the fact that this NEST organization he mentioned sounded like it was top secret, she seriously doubted that they could go to the public about it. Not unless they wanted some unwanted attention from these other robots.

Oh yes. She was having a fucking _peachy _day already.


End file.
